Saina Nehwal to lead Indian contingent at Syed Modi International Badminton Championship

Saina Nehwal has been in a decent form this year winning the gold at the Commonwealth Games and also managing a Bronze medal at the Asian Games held in Indonesia. As recently as in the Denmark Open she reached the finals of the event losing in the final to World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying. So after a pullout from PV Sindhu from the Syed Modi International, Nehwal is expected to be a top contender for the Women’s singles title.

In the men’s singles, there will be no Kidambi Srikant as he has decided to give the event a skip. But defending Champion Sameer Verma will participate and try to retain the title. Apart from him, HS Prannoy and R M V Gurusaidutt will also take part in men’s singles event from India and Thailand's Adulrach Namkul and Germany's Jonathan Persson are to be their first round opponents respectively.

Seeded fourth B Sai Praneeth will take on Russia's Sergey Sirant in the opening round while Subhankar Dey will open against China's Zhou Zeqi. In the men’s doubles India’s top pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who are the silver medallists at the Commonwealth Games, and National champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will represent India. 

Ashwini Ponnappa will take part in two categories in the women's doubles and mixed doubles. She will pair up with N Sikki Reddy in the Women’s doubles and with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in the mixed doubles.